National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

There’s an odd, weirdly cozy relationship between Christmas and crime, at least in cinema. Hollywood’s scribes churn out “holiday” films on the regular, and since conflict drives story, nefarious doings often get stirred into the plot-stew of Yuletide yarns. Today’s list ranks the various Christmas capers that have popped up in Christmas films throughout the years, and judged them based on their creativity, ultimate success, and quality of presentation.

Today’s Top 10 list pays homage to those films that showcased especially vigilant Christmas combatants: the characters that really put their weight behind some heavy-handed yuletide interference — to actively sabotage or otherwise machinate to disrupt the holidays, and to to annihilate another person’s joy and happiness!

The reason I’m writing this post about the best Thanksgiving movies ever is because I wanted to modify my Top 10 Thanksgiving Movies list, but couldn’t. There’s no reason to. It’s just that good. Dare I say “definitive”? Yes, I do.